Gerard Nash says assisting caretaker-boss Bryan Klug with the first-team squad in the final weeks of the season following Mick McCarthy’s departure is an “incredible opportunity” for him and fellow U23s coach Chris Hogg.
Klug, the academy’s head of coaching and player development, was put in temporary charge after McCarthy’s exit following the Barnsley game nine days ago and immediately appointed Nash and Hogg his assistants.
"He called us in one day last week and asked us to crack on as we have done within the U23s all season,” Nash explained.
"He has given us a lot of responsibility and as well as that because he’s been very busy predominantly focusing on the academy players, he probably hasn’t seen a lot of the first-team games.
"I think the fact that Chris and I have been working closer to it has encouraged him to give us a lot of responsibility.
"He’s been brilliant and that’s something that Chris and I will gain a lot from, and it’s thanks to Bryan that we have the opportunity.
"It’s something that maybe a couple of weeks after the season has ended we’ll really be able to reflect on and learn from, whereas we’re in the midst of it at the moment.
"But it’s an incredible opportunity, we’re both very young men, I’m 31, Chris is 33, and it’s probably rare that you’d have somebody like Bryan to give us that opportunity.
"Normally experience is the thing that’s always wanted but he’s come with two young coaches to help him out and Chris and I are very grateful for that.”
Dubliner Nash joined the Blues as a 15-year-old as a central defender but saw his playing career end after only one sub appearance for Town and a handful of games on loan at Hartlepool and Southend, a succession of serious knee injuries having hampered his progress.
"It was a long time ago first and foremost, but it is what it is, I didn’t make it, I wasn’t good enough,” he reflected. "My life then became about coaching and trying to become the best coach I can be.
"It’s a long, long time ago. I was having a chat with Luke Chambers on Saturday morning and he was asking me about playing and I was saying it was so long ago I can barely remember it, it’s so different.
"Luke and I are a similar age but he’ll have it all to go through when he finishes playing and it’ll be tough for him because it’s a big adaptation.
"My career ended, I wasn’t good enough and I’ve moved on and I’m trying to make as good a career as I can as a coach.”
He added: "I had injuries and so on and so forth but lots of people do. I had some injuries, it didn’t help but I’ve moved on from that. I was a teenager, I was 19.”
Does he believe starting so early in coaching has given him a head start on players of a similar age who had longer careers and who will be looking to hang up their boots in seasons to come?
"I think it has undoubtedly has,” he continued. "I think in my situation I was incredibly lucky in some respects. I had a year left on my contract when it was probably pretty clear that I wasn’t going to have a long career in the game.
"It was Jim Magilton and Bryan Klug [in charge of the first team] at the time, and Tony Humes and Richard Hall the academy, and I suppose those four people were very good to me over that period and got me down the coaching route, encouraged me to go into it and it went from there.
"I was very young starting and I suppose I have gained good experience for someone of my age.
"I’ve worked across all the age groups, I think all phases within the academy. It’s very streamlined now, you’ve got a foundation phase and a youth development phase and a professional development phase.
"I’ve worked through all the phases and gained experience in all roles really on the coaching front. I’ve been here for 16 consecutive seasons.”
However, despite spending more than half his life in Suffolk, he remains a Dubliner at heart.
"I’m settled in the area, my wife’s from the area but Ireland is always my home and always will be, that will never change,” he added.
"It’s a nice part of the world, it’s a good football club, the history is better than where we’re at currently but we all have to be striving for the same thing, to hopefully change that.”
He says Klug has played a huge role his his career: "I came to the club as a 15-year-old and Bryan was the academy manager at the time.
"He’s been a real mentor for me for a number of years now. He’s played a huge part in my development as a coach, as he has with a lot of coaches at the club.
"There are a lot of people who started in the youth team at the club in various roles and he’s been a huge part of that. He’s had an incredible impact on my career.”
Prior to Saturday’s game at Forest Nash says he had had little hands-on involvement with the senior side, although had a part to play in the preparation for matches.
"My role was very much to look after the U23 team, the gaffer and TC were in charge,” he said.
"I’d be on the same side of the training field, we’d train on adjacent pitches quite a lot. I’ve had a lot of involvement in terms of being around both the gaffer and TC and I’ve also done a fair bit on watching the opposition at every chance.
"That’s probably helped in that I’ve managed to see Forest playing live in the weeks building up to the game and I’ve managed to see Aston Villa in the build-up to the game, so I’ve had a fair bit of interaction with them on the training field and so on and so forth.
"Obviously, it’s different, when they leave it leaves a void so we’ve had to step into that as best we could.”
Nash says he learnt a lot from McCarthy, who appointed him U21s U23s coach in succession to Mark Kennedy in the summer of 2016.
"Mick McCarthy’s been absolutely incredible for me,” he added. "The only reason I’m sitting here really is because he gave me the opportunity to work with the U23 team a couple of years ago.
"He’s been absolutely brilliant to work for, both as a man and things he’s helped me out with personally.
"And also professionally he’s been absolutely wonderful to learn from and work for. I’d like to put that on record, he’s been absolutely magnificent to work for.”
Does he fancy first-team management long-term? "I don’t know is the honest answer. I haven’t got a lot of experience in it, about 90 minutes, or 97 minutes unfortunately!
"It’s not something that two weeks ago I was thinking about, my job has always been to work with young players to try and develop them to the best of my ability. That’s what I’ve always tried to do, I’ve always been thinking about.
"It was surreal on Saturday, but all I’m trying to focus on is becoming the best coach that I can be.”
Nash says he’s not unduly concerned about any upheaval or change which might take place when the new manager is named in the summer.
"Is it something I’m worried about? No, not really,” he continued. "I think where we are as a club, and I include everybody in this, is that unless we’re all together - fans, players, staff, everybody connected with the club - and we get together in the few weeks and from the start of next season, we’re all going to be probably be in the same situation.
"So, where everybody wants to be, where we all want to be is hopefully being able to compete for a place in the top six.
"I think we all have to be together. I’m not worried about my future here per se because all I’m really focusing on us being together as a club for two or three weeks and hopefully we can be in a position to be start next season in the best possible shape.”
Looking back to more immediate matters, he says he and Hogg will learn a great deal from their unexpected month with the senior side.
"It’s been really stimulating, it was certainly very tough on Saturday for the last five minutes,” he said.
"But it’s been really stimulating and we’re on edge, Chris and I, probably as a group of staff when you’re on edge that’s when you probably improve the most, and we’re enjoying it.”